Frozen Glory

Today dawned crisp and clear. A great day for a long run. I'd pondered going to Pendle with Tim and doing my own long run version of the full tour but decided I'd like to be home by lunch rather than spending time travelling.

My plan was to set out from Glossop, go up to Chunal cabin, Mill Hill, then around the Kinder Downfall fell race and return home whichever way took my fancy. Being icy and crunchy underfoot I thought today was a good opportunity to break the Orocs out of the box. They've patiently been waiting in the cupboard since May. The temperature was set to stay around freezing until mid morning, and setting out at 8.30am I reckoned on the ground staying hard all the way round. It did. Great.

Wormstones catching the morning rays, taken near Chunal cabin

Looking down on Mill Hill as I climb up onto Kinder edge path

James Thorn and Higher Shelf Stones in the sunshine, distant right horizon

What's not so great is that I had to abandon my run in Hayfield. I'd felt a small niggle in my left heal fairly early on but dismissed it as a new-shoe-twinge. Sadly by Kinder Downfall it was a hot spot verging on blister but I didn't want to look. I didn't want it to be real.

Kinder Downfall...a little ice but mostly white foam 

I could have gone back home from the downfall, but took a big swig of HTFU and continued. I ignored the growing pain, tightened my laces and carried on running on what otherwise was an absolutely amazing run. I was going slowly, but this was a planned 28km run so no speeding required. The views were stonking. So so clear....I could make out distant chimneys and power stations on the west coast easily. Looking eastwards there were smoke stacks I couldn't place...Nottingham perhaps? Certainly in that direction by a long way.

Kinder Low trig point with Hope cement works chimney in the distant right

Mount Famine and South Head

I paused briefly at the LuvShack (those of you who know this place know where I mean) to beg a plaster...cheers Andy!! I was now seriously contemplating bailing in Hayfield and had been doing so but shutting out those thoughts since Kinder Low trig. Damn. Such a good day. Feeling so good about this long run. Perhaps the pain will bugger off now I'd put on a plaster. Would the magic of a 5cm bit of sticky plaster work? Running from Bowden Bridge through the campsite I swiftly turned across the river and up the hill to test the heal pain 'going up' a short stretch. The route I had planned would involve probably another 400-500m ascent and about 13km. On the tiny uphill section my heal screamed at me to stop. Damn. Bailing it was.

After loitering around Hayfield for about half an hour I got the bus back to Glossop (£2.60 if you ever need this option). The wait gave me plenty of time to wonder...how would it have been if I'd carried on? Did I make the right decision? Well yes I did. But sitting here typing in my fluffy slippers and no pain with the sun still beaming down on the hills I so so wish I could have continued. I'll do the route again soon, this time maybe not wearing new shoes. Perhaps that was a foolish error, not to worry, I'm keen and human! Plus, I'm home and safe.

I've written a short blog on the equipment I used/carried today here.

Incremental

Since mid August I've been gradually increasing the distance of my long runs. I did a few long days while I was in Switzerland in early August, with a few of the days around or just above 20km. They were decent days out, but owing to the big ascents you inevitably get in the Swiss alps the days were mixed running and walking. All very enjoyable and good time on the feet. Since our holiday I've been working towards running the Edale Skyline route, and I'm almost there. But not quite. My longest run until recently was 25km last June, since which I've not done many long runs so the Skyline route a big challenge for me to work towards.

I went up to the Brown Knoll area yesterday to watch this year's Edale Skyline race. I was somewhat jealous of the runners and wished I'd started getting longer miles in earlier in the year. Still, I was secretly pleased not to be running in the 'moderate breeze' that was very blustery and knocking the runners around - my lungs and strong winds are not friends as I was reminded on my long run on Saturday! A gorgeous day for the race though (there's a few photos below) and some great running by Glossopdale Harriers and other fell running friends. Well done to all who ran the race.

Sitting around waiting for the runners to come past I was trying to work out how my training was going. I thought it was a good idea to recap just what I have done in the last few months. That way I can see if progress is going how I want it to. Here's how it's all panned out with just the running I do. I also mix in recovery turbo sessions, strength training, walks, stretching, foam rollering, sports massage and total rest days, but here's the running:

11/08 - 9km
13/08 - 10.5km
17/08 - 17.7km in 2:45 and 1028m ascent

23/08 - 5.5km
24/08 - 18.5km in 2:27 and 882m ascent

26/08 - 7km tempo run
28/08 - 4x 3min hill reps
31/08 - 20.11km in 2:39 with 620m ascent

03/09 - 5x 1km intervals
03/09 - 8.2km
07/09 - 25.4km in 2:29 and 464m ascent. flatter run to focus on distance

09/09 - 8.6km tempo run
11/09 - 4x 3:30min hill reps
13/09 - 5km
15/09 - 21.47km in 1:58 with 142m ascent. flat run to work on speed/distance

17/09 - 5x 400m sprints
18/09 - 5x 3:30min hill reps
19/09 - 9.1km
21/09 - 26.62km in 3:33 with 851m ascent

23/09 - 5.5km
25/09 - 4x 4min hill reps
26/09 - 8km
28/09 - 29.2km in 3:53 with 894m ascent

I'm really pleased with how it's going. Distance is building gradually and I've got a few flatter long runs in so know my pace can be good over the distance too. The last two weeks have seen me do my longest ever runs and I can honestly say I don't feel too tired afterwards - that is of course once I've got over the initial feelings of 'thank goodness that's done'. I can honestly say that after having a cup of tea and a few hours rest I feel like I could run again. I therefore judge my progress to be going very well indeed. This coming week is slightly different for me because of work and other commitments so I will see what I get done before deciding whether or not to do a long run, shorter long run or just to have a rest.  In the meantime, here's a few photos from Edale Skyline yesterday (the full set are on facebook):

Looking towards Brown Knoll

Looking down towards the check point at the top of Jacobs Ladder 

Glossopdale Harrier Caity Rice heading to the check point

Circumnavigation & Experimentation with LSD

My weekend long run took me to the Derwent valley. I wanted to get some consistent distance in my legs, and to do that decided I needed a fairly flat run so I could have a constant pace. Measuring the distance around Ladybower, Derwent and Howden reservoirs I had a good 24km distance to tick off. The weather forecast was unsettled, not really deciding if it would be sunny or heavy downpours - another reason not to punish myself on the hills on this occasion. Thankfully it stayed dry, the rain arriving later in the day. In trail shoes I set off on the west side, heading north...slowly ticking off the kilometres. The road and trail was fairly quiet considering it was a weekend, so I had plenty of time to observe and think about various things. 

Something I read recently said that every run should have a purpose. Well this run had one main purpose - a good solid Long Steady Distance run. Over the past few weeks I've built up my distance; last week was 20km, the week before 18km, and before that just over 17km. Given that I was adding a further 4km on this run, keeping the ascent effort to a minimum was a good idea. I'm firmly of the opinion that the body should not be put through too much too soon. So an increase (here of about 20%) in distance should not be accompanied by an increase in exposure to tough terrain or full on effort doing large ascents. It works for me, so I follow this principle.

As I ran northwards, with Derwent reservoir to my right, I meandered into another thought about purposeful running. I was keeping a steady pace, breathing was good, I was slowing slightly for the little rises and stretching my legs on the gentle descents. My mind wandered onto the thought of foot strike. So my secondary purpose to this run became light footsteps. I do this on most runs anyway, but on this day I had the luxury of a consistent terrain and no big climbs or descents to interrupt my thoughts. Every few minutes I would remind myself "light steps" and "less heal, more midfoot"..."lean forwards" and the other phrase which I usually speak to myself on tough runs is that I need to "float like a butterfly"...and so my internal dialogue went on and before I knew it I was on the opposite bank of the reservoir and about 16 or 17 kilometres behind me. The trail was now getting busier with walkers as I neared Fairholmes, but never so busy to cause me any issues...in fact there were some very kind people holding gates open for me, saving me from interrupting my stride. 

I'd parked about 1.5km up the road towards Fairholmes. In some ways the thought of having to run north once more, as I'd crossed over Ashopton viaduct seemed to dampen my spirits but I quickly pushed those thoughts out of mind. After all, 24km is still 24km, regardless of where the car is parked! I did in fact run just over 25km, using the last 800m or so to cool down after reaching the car. My average pace was 5:52/km which I am very pleased with, and my average HR 162bpm - bang in the middle of Z3 which I suspect is a little high for an LSD run, but it felt comfortable. A total run time of 2:28:59 and a very happy me.

I had also experimented with food on this run. For a long time now I've stuck to the routine of eating on the first hour after setting off, then every half hour - this is my strategy on long runs. My food of choice has been very much the same thing - geobars (half every half hour) and the occasional small snickers or mars type chocolate bar. Today, I took what I normally would, but also some jam butties and cheese butties. I didn't know how much I'd need, so I did 2 slices of each, cutting them into quarters. I started today's run as always with the half geobar on the first hour, and at the 1:30 mark. I then had some jam butty. Result - went down well, stayed down, only ate half what I thought I would, I could hamster it in my cheeks to eat a short way down the path, but...my hands got sticky. This is a pet hate...so I used a little of my drinking water to clean my hand. Overall, good result on jam butties. Next up geobar, then onto cheese and salad cream - which again made my hand messy but went down ok. Quantity again not half what I thought I would eat. I also need better quality plastic bags - which will probably help with the sticky hand syndrome.

So, all in all a very good run. No stomach problems from the new food experiments and a very happy and tired runner. Copious amounts of tea drinking and sofa sitting commenced once back at home!

Pushing

I'm on a drive to attain one of my 2013 aspirations, #3 in fact. That is, to run the Herod Farm Fell Race quicker than last year, and hopefully not feel quite so trashed as I summit the second climb and then have to push to coax my legs down the final descent. The push for the next couple of months is to do three strength and conditioning sessions, and three runs per week. Here's what I've done this week:

Sunday - 50 minute tempo run (10-30-10), 7.82 km on the Longdendale Trail - it was raining and bitterly cold

Monday - strength and conditioning session 1 - see here for what I'm doing in the training sessions

Tuesday - rest, it snowed. I'd planned to do my second tempo run but driving to the trail wasn't a safe option. ok so I wimped out. but I did do some bodyweight core training for 45 minutes

Wednesday - strength and conditioning session 2 and tempo run (10-30-10), 8.03km this time doing laps on the track from Old Glossop towards Mossy Lea farm

Thursday - rest, although I did go for an easy walk for an hour

Friday - strength and conditioning session 3 (at home, interesting use of the weights we have) and my LSD (long steady distance) run - 90 minutes and 13.25km


So, mission accomplished for this week. Here's a (poor quality) photo taken on my phone during today's run:

This is looking from Cemetery Road towards Whiteley Nab - the hill that will be conquered (twice) during the Herod Farm fell race, scheduled for the evening of 17 April. If you're interested to see how I got on last year have a read of the blog I wrote. The sky in that final photograph sort of shows how horrible the weather was, I'm hoping for better conditions this year.